Everything you ever wanted to know about British politics but were afraid to ask...
 

With the British government in meltdown (for John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, change meltdown to trousers-down), the headlines make interesting reading again. It occured to me, however, that many of you in the US probably know very little about our government (much as we probably know about yours). So here's a little thread in an attempt to change that for you.

If you want to know something about our politicians, who they are, what they get up to, what they should get up to and how we feel about them then ask here.

I hope that some of my British comrade Cellarites will join in - Jaguar, Limey and others.

To bring you up-to-date with all the fun we are having in UK politics at the moment:

1. Charles Clarke, Secretary of State for the Home Office (Prisons, Immigration, Law & Order, Terrorism and all those nice little things) has manged to oversee the 'loss' of up to 1,000 (probably more) foreign hard-line criminals. They should have been deported, but, oops, they got released back into the free world by mistake. Only a half dozen or thereabouts have so far murdered or raped or committed other serious crimes, so still plenty of time to catch the rest and bring them under control - if only anyone knew who they were.....

2. Patricia Hewitt (now nicknamed Patricia Blew-it), Secretary of State for Health keeps telling everyone she meets that our health service has had its best year yet. Hard to get people to listen when there is close to a £1 billion deficit this year, hospitals are closing wards and front-line staff are being dismissed (13,000 expected to go). Poor girl, she can no longer give a speech, she gets boo-ed off the stage by angry doctors and nurses.

3. Last but not least, John Prescott, who has been screwing his secretary. OK it happens, but he really shouldn't have preached about the need for this thing to stop a few years back. Was known as two Jags, because of his cars, but now, predictably known as two shags!


Not to forget the opposition:

David Cameron, new leader of the Conservative/Tory Party is keen to show us his green credentials in this age of global warming. So he cycles to work each day - sadly with his chauffeur driving his Lexus behind carrying a change of clothes. Oh, but he did get a photo taken of him on a glacier to help bring home the point. But sadly he had to fly there and create a few unnecessary extra CO2 emmissions doing so....

Anything else you want to know - just ask. I and my fello Brits will do our best to enlighten, I am sure - maybe not always the exact truth, but British politics will hopefully become a source of entertainment for a change.

Still afraid to ask, eh?

Well, the current state of play is John Prescott projecting slightly ahead in the resignation stakes - managing to hang on by his balls, one might say.... Charles Clarke looked as though he was going to take a clear lead but has reined back a shade (although it's difficult to understand how or why - maybe he's electronically tagged?). Patricia Hewitt is keeping her head down and maintaining a position at the rear of the field - no trophies likely for her as she is and things stand, but there's still plenty of ground yet to be covered, and the field could change round completely before it's all over - stranger things have happened.

It's almost as if the Prescott thing will take care of itself, or else the opposition parties are happy to let him wait on the sidelines - prolong the agony sort of thing. Tonight, guns are blazing from the Tories and LibDems unequivocably in Mr Clarke's direction...

Tomorrow...? We'll have to wait and see....

I like this, CF. It's very educational. I don't know enough to comment specifically, but generally it's nice to know that people are people where ever you go! I especially liked the one about David Cameron biking to work, HA!--please keep us informed about the UK--!

Green Policy turns into Greenbacks...

Oops! The EU Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme, meant to act as a device to limit and reduce the amount of carbon pumped into the atmosphere looks as though it has given power companies a £1 billion windfall profit instead.

It's a bit hard to follow, but essentially, firms had been given the trading permits free of charge by the government and their relative value is set by pricing the carbon available against a permit. Companies that produced low carbon output would be able to sell their excess to those who produce high carbon output and needed the extra capacity - overall it was hoped that the scheme would see carbon levels reduce as firms either used their earnings to improve emissions or saw it more advantageous to improve emissions rather than pay for extra carbon capacity without such change

Now the rapidly increased value of electricity has pushed the carbon value up and so those selling spare 'carbon capacity' have seen the price they are being offered soar - and they haven't had to make any investment at all in new technology to reduce emissions further to do reap this reward. Likewise those paying have the extra dosh to do so. A clear case of using the wrong device to achieve the desired result, and yet another example of a badly thought through, government-inspired cock-up. Our government has even been fighting to have the carbon limits raised, blissfully unaware of what was happening with the original scheme.

Nice to know they have everything under control.....

Sorry CF but I find this as depressing as reading Private Eye. Politicians shag around,they lie, they cheat, they manipulate everything to their own short-term ends. Bah!

My work... depressing!?!

I'll take to the bottle immediately (we have a nice Sauvignon Blanc sitting doing nothing anyway, and if I'm not quick Mrs CF will only down it all by herself!)

Equally sorry, but I find the antics of the politicians nothing short of farcical entertainment. No wonder they're situated so close to the Whitehall Theatre, home of Brian 'there-go-my-trousers-again' Rix!

Local Elections on 4th May

Tomorrow sees a large part of the country (if they have the will to do so) vote to elect local councillors.

Years gone by these elections used to be distinct from the main government of the country and you would see residents associations, independent parties and other 'non-political' bodies entering into the fray.

Nowadays, it is generally just a reflection of the government parties but operating at local level and dealing with local issues which are funded through a 'Council Tax ' system based upon the value of your house and the number of people resident in it. How much is this tax? Well, currently I pay £2,000 a year for what seems to be having my dustbins emptied and not much else - as I don't partake of any of the other srevices covered (education, policing, subsidised housing, libraries, road maintenance and so on). Clearly there are others who get more and pay less for the privilege - it's that sort of a system...!

So tomorrow we will see various Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates slugging it out across the country and the electorate giving their opinion on the current state of our government in their voting - because the local elections are now more to do with how we feel about the main government 's performance than the local issues they are meant to cater for.

So watch this space and see if Labour 's disastrous last ten days gets the reaction that many are predicting - a dramatic drop in the number of Labour held seats and wards in local councils.

Bad day it was indeed for labour. Lost control of the London boroughs to the Conservatives and lost 250 councillors overall. British Nationalist Party, known for its extremist right-wing views and policies, gained 11 seats, reflecting the electorate's dissatisfaction with the government's inability to handle problems with immigration and other sensitive issues. Main winners Conservative's though taking 40% of the vote with Labour at 26% and Lib Dems at 27%

Result has prompted an instant major cabinet re-shuffle by Blair.

Charles Clarke is sacked as Home Secretary - replaced by John Reid (seems to move rapidly from one department to the next before any mud sticks - has headed Health and Defence in last twelve months!)

Surprisingly John Prescott stays as Deputy PM but loses his department

Jack Straw goes as Foreign Secretary, being replaced by Margaret Becket - Straw becomes leader of the House of Commons.

Not surprisingly Gordon Brown stays as Chancellor.

No mention yet of Patricia Hewitt being moved....

Probably more to come - so will update later.

Has the government, any government, ever come up with a scheme that the utilities haven't been able to turn to their advantage?
The upside of the soaring credits value/cost, is they may be willing to spend more on reducing carbon spewing.

Being only vaguely aware of the system and completely lost on the characters, makes it hard to follow.:us:

Setting aside the overhead of managing/policing this, I guess the permits should have had some base value linked to the price of energy at the time of issue. Trades would still be done at the market price, but the difference between base price and elevated price would be passed to a third party/body that would ensure that this element was used to improve emissions rather than see it go straight in the pocket of the company selling its spare capacity.

Otherwise it needs a re-think to uncover a better and more direct way of encouraging companies to improve/reduce emissions than relying on the current trading solution which now looks very flaky.

Looks like Prescott is going to be investigated by the police for shagging in his office during working hours! Also a growing band of critics wanting to know what he will be doing to justify his ongoing salary and perks (one paper rates these as equivalent to £800,000 per year), as although he keeps his job, he has lost all his responsibilities!

Meantime Blair refusing to respond to a growing army of MPs demanding he sets a timetable for when he will stand down as PM.

Adjustment to final figures for seats lost by Labour which ended up at 319 - while Conservatives gained 316 and Lib Dems gained 2.

A lot of unhappy Labour ministers at Blair's cabinet reshuffle and the Labour Party looking like it is cracking up badly.

All points to a rocky ride over the next few weeks and predictions of an almost inevitable outcome....

Oh, dear... oh dear...! Civil war a-brewing in the Labour Party. A large slug of Labour MPs have openly declared that they want our Tone to show his hand as to when he will stand down and also to set out a timetable so that it's not a last minute thing just before the next election.

Tony doesn't want to play yet and it's causing a good deal of friction - there's a lot of Labour MPs out there very nervous at the drop in Labour's voter share and eager to attack the problem at its core - which they see as being the Party's leader....

What do you think? - express your view in the poll above

Seems Tony is playing for time - he has taken a ' don't damage the party' line with his critics, and given them a promise that he will give time for his replacement to take proper charge before the next election - it's just, well, you know, not the right time now, when there's still so much to do and with stuff that's still ongoing....

Now where have we heard before...? Tony is famous for his stalling tactics and also for his ability to change his mind (and that's a polite way of saying it!). It will be interesting to see if sufficient Labour MPs swallow his message to prevent a showdown.

BTW, don't hold back giving your opinion above - I certainly put my two pennuth in on a lot of the US polls, after all....

Do people in Britain long for Winston Churchill to be reincarnated in the same way that people in the US long for Harry Truman to make a return appearance?

Probably like you in US we just want someone who at least attempts to tell the truth and delivers results - instead of leaders and MPs who fabricate answers to satisfy their electorate without trhere being any substance to back up their rhetoric.

Also, much too much these days, our MPs are looking more and more after themselves at the expense of the public taxpayers - perks, pensions, expenses - you name it they exploit it!

And they wonder why the numbers who actually use their vote continues to drop...

There seems to be more going on behind the scenes than in front of the audience, but perhaps that should be no surprise.

While Tony played down the idea that he would set a timetable for standing donw per se, insisting that he would of course give his successor enough time to settle in, various meetings planned at senior level suggest that an agenda for his departure may become a reality - albeit that the details will be only for the ears and eyes of a select few.

This seems a disctinct possibility, as it is otherwise hard to see how he will silence the voices of those who want him out without something more than a vague proposal. Nevertheless, our Tone is a slippery character who has shown his supreme ability to wriggle his way out of many a tight squeeze in the past - so why should this be any different...?

Yes, Tony and Gordon are talking privately. This time around Gordon isn't so keen to take Tony at his word (seeing how often he has broken it in the past) and is demanding to have firm handover dates and a timetable in return for backing Tone's reform programme in the interim - or so informed sources say....

I moaned a few entries ago about the way our MPs line their own pockets, citing pensions as an example.

Interesting to see that Gordon Brown is reported overnight as having scored over Tony Blair about returning to earning's-related pensions increases for state pensions (withdrawn a good few years back).

Blair wanted this re-introduced by latest 2010 (yes, that long off), while Brown argued for a 2012 introduction based on cost and has won his way. Interestingly, this will be followed by an increase in the state retirement age for males from current age 65 to age 68 before 2050.

It's all taken years to agree on and I guess it all sounds a bit yawn-making in a way, being so far off before it is implemented, but you have to look at this situation alongside the way MPs dealt much quickly with their own pension problems.

Three years back they voted fairly easily and without much of a conscience to increase their final salary pensions so that they only had to work 10 years to get a pension equivalent to 25% of their final salary. Compare that to a member of the public working 40 years for 30% pension, and that these schemes, known as final salary schemes, have virtually all been abandoned by companies in favour of money-purchase schemes (which rely on stock market performance to define their value) anyway because of the overhead the final salary schemes impose.

Worse still, when the stock market crash two year's back hit the money-purchase schemes values the general public had to accept the decrease in the value of their retirement nest-eggs). Not so the MPs, who took a further £25 million from taxpayers to make up the shortfall this would have caused to their final salary schemes.

All fair there then!

PS - I forgot to mention the $5 billion per year raid Brown made on pension fund values in the private sector when he abolished tax relief on investment dividends...

I wanna' know where I can get me one-a' them wigs!

Now, you know that is not what I meant. :right:

That would be telling

Another great day for British politics - publication of the latest dossier on the 7/7 London bombings, and another list of failures and missed opportunities.

The plotters were under surveillance, but there was no cohesion by the MI5 of all the evidence they had on reconnaissance trips, phone numbers and activities of the four plotters that were deemed individually to have been only of minor importance and were never pieced together - if they had been the report concludes that the result would have been compelling.

And most noticeable by its absence is any attempt to show any hint of a relationship between the Iraq invasion and the 7/7 attacks.

Conclusion: no fault of the intelligence services for the outcome, but they must do better to prevent any repeat of mistakes made in respect of 7/7.

Hard to swallow when the IS have not been able even now to identify any of the masterminds behind the attack, and admit that the number of potential terror suspects has climbed from 250 2 years ago to 800 now - a number they are finding it hard to keep tabs on.

I have to admit I don't blame MI5 for 7/7, keeping track of that many people, working out which ones are bluffing and which ones have the balls & having the operational capability & manpower to stop things is not easy and god knows how many they've stopped but I'm guessing it's a few. it's quite likely there was no external 'mastermind' behind the attack or if there was, he's in the mountains of Pakistan, not bradford or finsbury.

Since this is all about british politics. Fuck David Cameron with a car exhaust, he's a pathetic green-washing piece of shit blue-blood tory with more spin and less substance than Tony Blair, no real policies & no political balls.

Well, I'm still undecided on how Cameron will actually pan out, but have to agree that he is somewhat Blair-like in his approach. But the fact that he has been the one to re-establish the Tories as a viable opposition must count for soemthing, and probably goes to prove the old addage that you need to fight fire with fire.

Editting to add: IMO there's more to the failure of preventing 7/7 than meets the eye. I would have expected MI5, by the very virtue of its name, to attack any directive with the military precision that the British forces have demonstrated in their operations in the past. The fact that they haven't suggests that they are under-resourced - both in numbers and with personnel in the right places with the appropriate skills. However, this is symptomatic of a government (and probably preceding governments as well) who are happy to make sweeping statements about the programmes they will initiate to appease their electorate, but who have no idea of the implications of same in terms of manpower and procedures and therefore fail to make the necessary resources (essentially funding) available to permit their plans to have even half a chance of success. Either that, or they have a hidden agenda - something I would not discount given the evidence of past shenanigans. Sadly, with this government, we have seen this approach repeated across one government department to another.

Blair is struggling to take the spotlight off the disasters of the last two weeks (ministerial problems followed by negative local election results), but has chosen an odd vehicle, namely the Human Rights legislation.

For 9 years the legislation has given criminals as much (some say more) consideration as their victims, to the extent that it has even been impossible to deport known terrorists. Now Tony wants to tighten the law to plug this gaping hole - given his lack of success in other areas where he has meddled, ther isn't much confidence in his ability to achieve this, and the cynics amngst us say that's fine now that his wife who runs a law practice that specialises in Human Rights has made her millions, and especially as Tony will be moving out of his job before too long. All too convenient.

Meanwhile the police are stepping up their investigations into the 'pay for peerages' debacle, as the circle of events draws ever tighter and closer to the Prime Minister's office....

Prescott, now with hardly any parliamentary responsibilities, still enjoys his salary and perks, despite public outcry, which isn't helping at all.

On a positive not (well, for Tony, anyway), the PM has presented Gordon Brown with the job of sorting out the Home Office - a nice poisoned chalice if ever there was one - if he fails or doesn't make satisfactory progress it will certainly damage his prospects of succeeding Tony, without a doubt...

Here we go again - unmitigated spin and fabrication. What is it this time? Why, immigration, for a change (not really...).

Now John Reid, he of the short stay fraternity, is in control of the Home Office, we are being subjected to his rhetoric. Well, after the farce yesterday of the Immigration rep being unable to answer any of the questions about numbers of illegal immigrants and progress in tracking them down, JR (how appropriate those initials seem) was bound to step into the breach.

So there are maybe/possible/perhaps (according to the think of a number, double it and take away the number you first thought of methodology of statistics gathering) around 400,000 illegal immigrants, but, of cousre, most of these were inherited by the current government as they are undoubtedly the offspring of the original illegal immugarnts that the last legislation failed to stop entering....

So you can see where we are leading. Asked how many illegal immigrants were now being caught, JR's answer was that it was now more than the number making false applications (one has to assume that this means the number of false applications we know about, which could be, what, 10?), to which he added we are identifying around 1,000 illegals a month now - that being based on there being 2,500 in the last 3 months (minds you maths never was his strong point - I think it was Mr Reid who declared that there were only a handful of Polish plumbers in the UK - that's in spite of their having been an influx of 350,000 poles seeking work in the UK since Poland gained EU admission last year).

Believe me, it will get worse - and by that I means in terms of numbers and the accompanying rhetoric!

Time to man the lifeboats, methinks....

Tony just can't wait! No, it's not about his quitting as PM - that can ALWAYS wait. It's about the re-emergence of nuclear energy as a prime source of electricity generation for the UK.

There's an official study due to be completed and published in July this year, but somoone's told Tony that 50% of people interviewed in a recent survey now think Nuclear Energy would be acceptable. So why waste time waiting for the official answer. Tone's shown his hand already. No need to cosnider other options such as alterantive sources and improving efficiency in the way energy is consumed. No, Tony's convinced that NE is the way to go if emissions are to be cut by anywhere near the amount demanded.

Let's hope we've learned the mistakes of Iraq - the last time Tony forced his way over everyone else - and that we won't let him run roughshod over the many concerns that people have regarding the long-term issues of NE, and not least the negative legacy of spent nuclear fuel disposal.

Some believe he is just trying to wrong foot the opposition parties, to show a positive lead on the matter. There is of course the little issue of one Alan Donnelly to consider, he being a lobbyist for the Nuclear sector and representative of major US company Fluor who are suppliers in this market, and someone who has given financial help to David Miliband, the Labour minister tasked by Tony to investigate the NE option (plus Tony himself has enjoyed the hospitality of Mr Donnelly as well).

Grey and muddied waters yet again....

Well, I tried to put it off as long as I could, but sooner or later the matter of John Prescott has to be covered.

There's been a lot of griping from oppositioin parties about Prescott's loss of department, but retention of salary and perks as a result of the Cabinet reshuffle.

The man with the money but no job is how it seems, and, given the exposure of his 'intimate office work' he's not exactly in anyone's good books.

But Tony is trying to beef up appearances. Prescott has value for him as a broker between the PM and Gordon Brown in respect off the eventual handover (if GB actually ends up getting the job, that is!), so Tony wants to keep on the right side of the man (why expose yourself personally to any backfire when you can set up a formidable firewall!).

Trouble is, nobody believes that all the other tasks that Tony has now said will be Prescott's responsibilities have any credibilty, and Prescott had a rough ride through his speech yesterday in parliament from all sides.

It remains to be seen if this one will continue to aggravate or that the old addage that a week in politics is a long time will hold true and the Prescott debacle will slip quietly below the horizon...

I'm forgetting Prescott already, myself. Mainly because of one Tony McNulty - a person it is easy to get to dislike instantly - who acts as a sort-of informed source for the activities of the immigration department (although his information is most times questionnable, and he's a great procrastinator as well).

Anyway last night on TV, McNulty stepped into the limelight to clarify the situation, which event probably caused instant groans in several quarters.

So what did he have to say?

Well the number of illegal immigrants in the country was about between the figures 310,000 to 570,000 (that's a relief!), and it would take about ten years to deport them all, with the amazing proviso that this was of course 'assuming that we can find them, and assuming that people aren't going away of their own accord'

Why ten years? Answer: 'Ten years, if you are saying 25,000 per year.' - hang on 25,000 x 10 = 250,0000 - didn't he just say the number was between 310,000 and 570,000? Doesn't 570,000 divided by 25,000 = almost 23 years?

Oh and of course: 'Remember too the illegal population as it is is multi-layered and segmented it's not just.. those climbing over fences.'

Well that clears that up then - I feel much better now....

Some hot news last night - Five illegral immigrants were apprehended last night. They were cleaning the Home Office!

Sadly, it's true...

Edit: Even worse than we thought - the office they were cleaning was the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in London - the department that's tasked with dealing with illegal immigration. Well, every cloud, as they say - at least they've found 5!

Gov't == :smack:

Me == :lol2:

Yes, it's not been a happy week for our Government - some of the things I haven't mentioned:

- Plans to replace 25,000 fully qualified police officers by cheaper less skilled and less-authorised local officers - police chiefs heavily critical of the plans

- Legal aid for prisoners facing parole boards has soared ten-fold since Human Rights Act introduced

- Plan (in last stages of implemetation) to merge 25 of the 43 police forces in UK, which has also been heavily criticised by police chiefs as it is counter-productive to improving local police relations, may now be scrapped because of its £600 million cost.

- Immigration officers, bent on achieving PM's targets for deporting failed asylum seekers are ignoring other issues, most damaging being the failure to work with police who detain illegal immigrant suspects - they just aren't responding, to the point that it has become so bad that police are now not bothering to contact them. All down to limited resources and the usual problem I have mentioned earlier - how the government continues to task its departments with ever-increasing objectives but fails to make appropriate resources available.

Trouble is no one expects the situation to cahnge for the better - rather the opposite...

Everything that I find wrong with british government is redeemed by one thing, to me...

They let people get married there.

I only just now saw this thread, CycleFrance. I must say it is very enlightening. Let me see if I can get this straight: 1,000 prisoners were accidently let loose on the people of the UK, and nobody knows who these prisoners are until someone chances to meet one in a dark alley some night. The unfortunate who survives such an encounter will be rushed by ambulance to an unstaffed ER because all the doctors and nurses have been let go in a cost saving measure. If the UK citizen is disabled by his encounter with said criminal, his pension fund will only keep a dog alive (just barely) while members of Parliment cavort in their offices with their secretaries and fly to exotic places to prove they're "against" global warming. Meanwhile the list of those who may have been responsible for 7/7 has grown to 800 (one wonders if they were members of the original group of 1,000 that hadn't gotten picked up yet). But not to worry because the UK is cutting its police force to better protect the people of Britain.

Errr... When do you expect the rioting in the streets to begin? Or are you Brits too well-mannered for that?

They don't riot, they just congregate on the sidewalks and grumble a bit to themselves looking mean... until tea. Tea trumps grumbling.

I'll have to think about that....:3some: :bitching: :3some: :morncoff:

Yes, I think you've got that about right - except the rioting - that takes too much time out of the day - we prefer to have a good old moan and then carry on with our lives as if nothing happened - we even re-elected the guy who caused the problems in the first place - God!, imagine if YOU did that..!!

This must be beginning to sound as though I'm making it all up, especially after this next development. Hard to believe I am not, but believe you must, because it's all true...!

So what today?

Well, remember I mentioned about the 1,000 or so criminals let loose (you should do as Mari's just mentioned it again above)? In a rather surreal way the Home Office has managed to balance the books, so to speak.

How has it done this? It's managed to proclaim around 1,500 individuals as having a criminal record, when they haven't had one at all! All thanks to a cock-up by the Criminal Records Bureau, who, apparently mismatched innocents details with those of convicted persons when cross-referencing their details with information held on the Police National Computer.

An easy mistake to make and no one's fault really (at least that's what the CRB said, refusing to make an apology) - I mean, it could happen to anyone, couldn't it....!?

Well, at least the 1500 innocents don't need to worry about false arrests what with the police being cut back, right? To every cloud, there's a civil lining. :D

Well, if they can cut back on police and identify 1500 more criminals when doing so, looks like they could try to create some more to justify further cutbacks (BTW, the number just jumped this afternoon from 1500 to 3000!)

Tony 'I can speak for ages and tell you sweet FA' Mc Nulty (see entry a few places above) has resigned from the Immigration and Nationalities Directorate today - well, it's a bit of a job swap really. He changes places with Blair protege Liam Byrne who has been looking after the Police (been in that job for two weeks!).

So that should be interesting - someone with no track record grappling with the problems in Immigration and another with a track record we'd rather forget moving over to handle the Police.

Help!

Blair is desperate to find a legacy to leave behind when he eventually quits the PM job. It's proving difficult though - everything he has touched so far has backfired on him big time.

Latest contender: The City Academy Schools - a series of ultimately up to 200 elitist schools that are funded outside of the normal educational budget and have attracted sponsorship from big businesses.

Not looking too good at the moment however. The architect Lord Foster has been contracted to design nine of the schools which are costing an average of £32million each ( compared to a normal comprehensive which costs £17 million). And the teaching results aren't proving to be that fantastic either.

Time yet to see the situation change but it might take a bit longer than what he has left... especially when one teachers' union rep states about an academy in his location: 'We have known since the first academy was opened that they are extremely expensive. They are draining money away from the education service and undermining the provision of education throughout the area'

'Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime' goes the government mantra.

Shame therefore about the following crackdown on the horrendous crime of bio-degradable litter offences, as reported today:

A student is facing court prosecution after he discarded the banana skin that some youths had thrown on to his car windscreen by pulling it off and dropping it in the road. The incident was spotted by the local litter warden and the student subsequently received a fixed penalty fine through the post for £30 for dropping litter. The youths were not apprehended. He claims he tried to contact the council to try to talk some sense into what seemed a ludicrous fine, but could not get through. He was then surprised to receive amonth later the summons to appear in court. He says he has better things to do than use up valuable time to appear in court about something so ridiculous. Meanwhile the court has adjourned the case in order to gather more facts.

His offence follows two other convictions widely reported this year - the first against a woman who dropped a crisp/potato chip from her car window - fined £75, and the second on a boy who dropped an apple core which he had been carrying in his coat pocket.

Good to see how wisely the councils can spend the local taxes they collect and how diligently they track down and prosecute such hardened criminals.

And the governemnt wonders why the electorate find it so difficult to take them seriously...

Not often that John Reid (Home Secretary) gets my sympathy, but no sooner does he bare his soul and say he's going to kick some butt, than a couple of immigration managers let him down. They were involved in the way a convicted murderer on the one hand and a rapist on the other, and even a paedophile on a third hand, that had just been apprehended, should be treated by the courts in terms of their immigrant status. They failed to respond with the necessary information, and this had the result that the courts by law had to allow these persons to go free on bail....

If Reid had any hair left he would be tearing it out, that's for sure. The managers concerned have been moved from their posts (not easy to sack civil servants... nigh on impossible...)

The George and Tony show ran last night - interesting outcome

If we are to believe the feedback from US journalists then it seems that Tony's performance left his standing with the American public high. On this side of the pond, however, British critics view this further confirmation of support for Bush on Iraq as damning proof that the invasion was completely wrong.

The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith relented to pressure from Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, and finally published details behind his decision to judge the proposed (at the time) invasion of Iraq as being legal - he had changed his mind within 10 days of coming to the oppoiste conclusion.

He has always argued that his change of view was not the result of political pressure - the informnation now published leads one to a different conclusion.

This was the basis for Blair going to war and commiting British forces to undertake action. Dissentors and sceptics were looking for evidence of impartial advice, perhaps even consultation with experts on international law. They were left wanting. The only extra advice came from sources who had an interest in the decision going the way of supporting invasion. His additional sources turn out to have been Jack Sraw (Foreign Secretary and supporter of invasion), Sir Jeremy Greenstock (British Ambassador to the UN), the US government and even Tony Blair, all of whom advised that for invasion a further UN resolution was not necessary - what a surprise!.

Needless to say the British government comment that there is little new in his statement - one can almost hear the carpet being lifted as the broom moves rapidly towards it....

We can always count on British Respect Party MP George Galloway to liven things up. You may remember him. He came over to the States last year to face a Senate Committee and steamed into Senator Coleman with guns blazing.

Anyway, this week, apart from visiting Fidel Castro, he also managed to stir things up in an interview for GQ magazine. When asked if a suicide bomb attack on Blair would be justified, he concurred saying it would be the equivalent of Blair ordering Iraqi deaths - but, clawing his way back up out of the deep hole he had just dug for himself, he added that he would tell authorities if he heard of any such plot to bump of Blair, and that he wasn't advocating the murder of the PM.

Well, it is Friday....

Galloway - it's not every day you see a pile of shit in a clown costume.

So glad you agree on that one Jag!

You don't see much American TV news, huh? ;)

Saying vs. Doing.... (or why we find it hard to take our politicians seriously).

You'd find it hard to believe that our government politicians take seriously the way their electorate has turned off them, and also that they are really aware of the state of their departments, judging by three headlines in The Sundays and also repeated in today's nationals:

1. John Reid, having pledged last week to do everything within his power to put the Home Office right (including a commitmemt to work 18 hours a day on the task), slipped away last Friday for a week's holiday in his Provencal villa.

He should be back by next Thursday - in time to put in a few hours before the weekend - must get those conviction rates up again as they've dropped 10% according to figures from the official British Crime Survey. Oh, and to get to grips with the fact that 'serious woundings' have increased 55% in a year (up from 12,500 to 19,500).

2. John Prescott has managed to get caught on camera playing a hard-fought game of croquet on the lawn of Downeywood, his 'grace and favour' country residence that many feel he should have given up, having been stripped of most of his responsibilities when Tony did his cabinet reshuffle two weeks ago.

The photos of JP playing the mallet and hoops game were bad enough, but they were made all the worse when it transpired they were taken on Thursday afternoon. All part of a hard day's work for the estranged MP. Still, it encourages the unsheathing of knives that are being widely drawn by a host of labour MPs keen to hasten his departure from the front bench of government, and to help slice great chunks off his £130,000 salary + the additional perks he gets that increase this figure to something close to £1 million pa.

3. The PM even fails to to 'Tone' down criticism of his domestic standing and authority, as he disappears for a week to take yet another freebie family holiday in Italy in a Tuscany palace - the 16th century property of one Prince Girolama Strozzi - this will be the Blair's fifth stay there.

Not only a free holiday, as Tone's quick to combine it with a Papal audience and other business matters (such as a meeting with the old Italian PM, and Tony's mate, Sylvio Berlusconi) so that British taxpayers pick up the bill for his Italian travels.


No-one objects in principle to our people in power taking holidays, but there is the teensy-weensy fact that, in less than 8 weeks, time all our MPs will be stopping work for their summer recess - they stop work on 21 July and return on 10 October - still, that's only a meagre 12 weeks, for god's sake!

Time enough, though, hopefully, for them all to be able to work out if their recently increased pensions will be able to finance such extravagancies when the time comes in the not too distant future, for them to opt for a life in retirement ...

Need to work out how much the British NHS is costing? Well, best not ask its computer to do tyhe calculations.

So far the NHS has spent £20 billion on its new computer system just to try to get patient records right - the overall system still isn't working properly and is well set to exceed the updated £31 billion cost (revised in 2004) which even then was 5 times the original projected cost (the records part is now costed at 6 times the original budget).

The programme is getting so complex that the Health Department is having to allocate a few extra £billions to the project to take account of staff training as well. Also issues regarding the sensitivity of certain patient information intended to be stored and the security of the system are still unresolved.

Perhaps we'll reach £50 billion before it's all done....

The UK government's complex system of Tax Credits as a way to address the needs of those on lower incomes is still suffering problems with overpayments.

Overpayments arose in the main because some of the commplicated rules were translated wrongly by tax officers implementing the scheme.

It is announced today that the overpayment is down in monetary terms (£1.8 billion compared to £2.2 billion for previous year), but the number of wrongly paid claimants has risen by nearly 5% (1.96 million now compared to 1.88 million).

The trouble is that the claimants believe they are being paid the correct amount and then learn only several months later that they have been overpaid. The tax department demands immediate settlement of any overpayment (often running to several £000s), which the affected claimants are generally not in a position to make.

The scheme has caused a lot of problems and is indicative of how the cost of running complex government solutions, which are frought with problems because of their complexity, all too often outway the benefits they are supposed to deliver.

I'm sure the records will be perfectly secure.

John Prescott clings on to his trappings for the time being.

It all seems a bit surreal that he can do so, but behind it all is the role he plays as the PM's firewall.

In the world of IT, the 'sacrificial server' is a key element of the firewall protecting the integrity of the main system. It sems that JP is fulfilling a similar role protecting Tony Blair from a virtual bloodbath - if he loses JP then his buffer is gone.

So we have the prospect that the Deputy PM is being kept on and allowed to retain his perks while having no apparent responsibilities. He's not around because of his ability to do a good day's work, but because he acts as a sort of political firewall prtecting our Tone. Take Prescott away and Tony becomes exposed to attack from all and sundry (well, that's the current thinking, anyway). This being the case, hes not going to be asked to fulfill the sacrificial role to its extreme just at the moment

Seems therefore that Prescott is not the only one trying to cling to power, and for the wrong reasons. Not to worry though, it's all part of the death knell that precedes a government's exit, brought about when the interests of the elected so blatantly assume more importance than the interests and well-being of the electorate.

Not too bad an end to the week then.

John Prescott has given up his grace and favour home, Dorneywood (clearly, he lost his game of croquet!), while the Social Services department, because of a loophole in recent government legislation, has issued illegal immigrants (about 3,300 of them) with national insurance numbers which permit them to claim benefits - much better than deprting them, isn't it?

Apart from a plan to let us turn left when trafiic lights are on red (that's all your fault, of course, my US friends), there's not much more to report, so I'll sign off this entry and make your coming weekend all the more enjoyable with some nice pictures of some of the grace and favour homes our ministers enjoy - just click here

Hey CF, just wanted to pipe up and say thanks for keeping this thread going, even without a lot of replies. It's comforting to remember that other civilized countries have embarassing political problems too. :)

Can I ask a dumb question? PM is obviously Prime Minister, but what's an MP do exactly?

MP - Member of Parliament - the guys who win at the elections - the party that has the most MPs gets to have the PM! Guess it's a bit like your Governor/Senator system...?

Good time to add a little more on Prescott - He's still suffering embarassments (but then he always will) - latest gaffs:

1. He used his Jaguar to transport him 250 yards from his hotel to the Conference Centre wher he was speaking on the major issue of Global warming. He claims he was trying to dodge reporters who might ask him embarassing questions about his position after demotion and recent events involving sex with his secretary and giving up his grace and favour residence, Dorneywood - just shows how useless a politician he is as by walking he could have scored a few brownie points, whereas now he just causes even more criticism...

2. On a visit to Canada where he is again attending something to do with Global Warming - he has been billed as the 'Vice Prime Minister' instead of his real title of Deputy Prime Minister - the title 'Vice' is one he would rather not see brandished, given the bonking sessions he had in his office with his secretary!